History Main / MaternalDeathBlameTheChild

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Emily's father blames his daughter for his wife's DeathByChildbirth, [[AbusiveParents verbally and physically abusing her]] because of it.

* In the Creator/VCAndrews ''Literature/TheCasteelSeries'', the heroine correctly assumes that her father hates her because her mother dies in childbirth. But as the series continues, she learns that his resentment is heightened by the fact that she isn't even ''his'' daughter. (She's the result of her mother's rape by her stepfather.)

* ''ComicBook/{{Venom}}'': Related to the above Spider-Man example, part of [[Characters/MarvelComicsEddieBrock Eddie Brock's]] backstory had his mother dying of complications giving birth to him. His father Carl, a mostly cold, unemotional man before meeting and falling in love with his mother, held him responsible for her death by being distant and unaffectionate towards him, which in turn instilled in Eddie a desire to prove himself and make his father proud. After the false Sin-Eater debacle which ends with Eddie disgraced following Spider-Man capturing the real deal, Carl outright disowns him and ceases all communication. Becoming Venom doesn't make things any better; indeed, Carl slams the door on Peter Parker when he approaches him for a word about his son.

* PlayedWith in ''ComicBook/SpiderMan''--[[WellDoneSonGuy Harry Osborn]]'s mother, Emily, died within the first year or so of her son's life; it wasn't DeathByChildbirth, but ComicBook/NormanOsborn still muses that losing her and gaining Harry was a sort of trade--and since Emily seems to be one of the few people he sincerely cared about, he feels like he got the short end of the stick.

* Taken to extremes in the story "Revenge" from the horror anthology ''ComicBook/{{Taboo}}'': A MadScientist loses his wife in childbirth, and blames their son for "murdering" her. However, since the child died during the birth as well, he has [[VengeanceDenied no target for his anger]]. His solution is to repeatedly clone his son, creating an unlimited supply of [[WouldHurtAChild infants to torture and murder]] to obtain his vengeance. (It never occurs to him to bring his wife back by cloning her instead.)

* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in ''Manga/DeadmanWonderland'' with [[PlayingWithFire Condor Candle]] and his daughter. He was TheStoic and loved his daughter deeply, but she blamed herself for her mother's DeathByChildbirth and convinced herself that he secretly hated her for it despite his insistence otherwise. After she was disfigured in an earthquake, she went mad and was DrivenToSuicide under his care with him going mad in turn, [[ConsultingMisterPuppet deluding himself into believing she was still there]].

Needless to say, this child will commonly grow up to be TheUnFavorite. Bonus points if someone mentioned that [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead the child should've died instead]].

Sometimes, when a woman suffers DeathByChildbirth, the child is seen as the [[SomeoneToRememberHimBy mother's last gift to her surviving family]]. But then there are ''these'' cases, in which the child is blamed for the mother's death.

* Downplayed in ''Literature/BreakingDawn''' when Edward tells Bella, who's dying from her accelerated supernatural pregnancy, that there's no way that he could ever love the baby if Bella dies. Bella and Edward are unusually insular when it comes to their romance so he's telling the truth. He changes his mind when he hears the baby's thoughts.

* In ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'', Jun Ushiro [[BigBrotherBully abuses his little sister, Kana]] because their mother died giving birth to her. In the manga, Kanji, a long-time friend of the siblings, gives Ushiro a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech saying that as uncaring as Ushiro is, he doesn't want Kana to die, since Ushiro's angry with his mother for dying, and is taking out his anger toward her on Kana. [[spoiler: It turns out that Kana's mother isn't Ushiro's mother- in fact, he was adopted when his own mother, Misumi Tanaka, abandoned him]].

* ''Film/WarCraft'': Lothar's wife died giving birth to their son Callan, making Lothar resentful of his son for it. Lothar eventually realized how unfair and cruel he was being, but Callan still spent his life trying to earn his father's approval by becoming a great warrior, [[spoiler: which eventually led to him being killed by Blackhand.]]

* In ''[[Literature/AnneOfGreenGables Anne of Windy Poplars]]'', Elizabeth Grayson suffers constant psychological abuse at the hands of her great-grandmother's housekeeper who used to dote on her mother, who died in childbirth. She is abandoned by her father for the same reason; however, [[spoiler: a letter sent by Anne, describing what sort of life Elizabeth leads, triggers his HeelRealization, and he returns to take the girl away]].

* PlayedWith unusually in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' in that the mother didn't die in childbirth, and that the one hating the child isn't related to them. [[spoiler: One of the reasons Severus Snape hates Harry so much is because he blames the boy for the death of Lily, Harry's mother, with whom Snape was in love. If Harry hadn't been born or if Lily had stepped aside and let her son die like Voldemort offered, then she would probably still be alive.]]

* In ''Literature/{{Nightrunner}},'' protagonist Seregil's father Korit blamed him for his wife Ilia dying in childbirth. Also a case of NeverMyFault. Korit had wanted a son and Ilia had been producing daughters, so they kept trying until Seregil was born, at the cost of his mother's life.

** Another variant, bordering on an inversion, involves [[spoiler: Akechi as the biological son of Masayoshi Shido, who ordered him to kill Futaba's mother to begin with. His true goal [[TheStarscream from working with him]] was to enact revenge for his own mother's [[DrivenToSuicide actual suicide]] as a result of his abandonment. Unfortunately, Shido was planning to [[YouHaveOutlvedYourUsefulness get rid of him anyway to tie up loose ends]], even having some some idea of [[ProperlyParanoid who he really was and what he was trying to do]].]]

* ''Webcomic/OneHundredAndEightyAngel'': [[spoiler: Paymon]] blames [[spoiler: Lilith]] for the death of their mother while giving birth to her, to the point of trying to murder her for her "crime." Even more tragic, due to him being shown to be very kind to [[spoiler:Lilith]] until her powers awakened.

* It's implied in ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' that Anthony Carver may have some feeling of this towards his daughter Antimony, given the way he disappeared on her and her mother's statement in flashback "he ''still'' loves you very much" (emphasis added), but given his total lack of contact, it's hard to say for sure. [[spoiler: The reason is that Surma was part fire-elemental and passed that on to Annie, which means Annie ''literally'' took her mother's life force as she grew older. And when Anthony does turn up as a teacher, his behavior towards Annie is rather heartless. When she is given an opportunity to spy on him during a vulnerable moment, it's revealed that Anthony really blames ''himself'' for not being able to find a way to save Surma. His cold behavior towards Annie was an unhealthy reaction to her startling resemblance to Surma (which is why he insisted on her removing her makeup), and he expresses great shame about it later in private.]]

* Present in some adaptations of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', such as the [[Film/AChristmasCarol1984 the 1984 version]] with George C. Scott. This is usually done to explain why young Ebenezer was left at school over the holidays with this trope. [[note]]These adaptations will typically make Scrooge's sister Fan older than him, rather than younger as she was in the book.[[/note]] It may also explain why he's so cold towards his nephew, Fred, since Ebenezer's sister is said to have died giving birth to him.

** Tywin Lannister loathes his son Tyrion because Tywin's wife Joanna (who was pretty much Tywin's MoralityChain) died giving birth to Tyrion. The fact that Tyrion was born with dwarfism and deformities adds insult to injury. Tywin only acknowledges Tyrion as his son to the extent necessary under social norms, and openly tells Tyrion that if it wasn't for the love Tywin bore his mother, Tywin would have left him to die at birth. His older sister Cersei also treats him this way. This really comes back to bite them, since Tyrion is actually one of the more competent Lannisters. [[spoiler:When Tyrion discovers that Tywin not only framed him for Joffrey's murder but convinced him that his legitimate wife was nothing more than a whore, Tyrion kills him.]]
** This is a part of Daenerys's backstory; her mother also died giving birth to her while her mother and brother were on the run from assassins. For that, her narration states, her older brother [[FallenPrincess Viserys]] had never forgiven her, although he continued to care for her until his StartOfDarkness.